In the week Malala Yousafzai collects her prize in Oslo, Karima Bennoune writes, "Dear Malala, As you accept the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, please know how many human rights activists around the world -- especially women -- are grateful to you ..."

Birth registration can play a crucial role in reducing child marriage, but this depends on enforcing existing laws and having comprehensive systems in place to register major life events, including deaths, marriages, adoptions and births. A ministerial conference of Asia-Pacific countries confronted this issue last November.

In this TEDx talk, Afghan women's rights activist and WLUML networker Noorjahan Akbar shares her personal journey for getting an education and the impact that education has on empowering women around the world and in Afghanistan.